This week I had the chance to speak with the lovely Suzanne Marshall, Body Transformation Coach, who was sharing her top 5 tips to improve your body image.
If you missed the show, feel free to catch the replay by clicking the button below:
It’s not just the school environment that we have to influence our image of ourselves and our confidence, it’s society, it’s our parents, it’s our environments. We are so impressionable when we are young, and the moms and dads I meet today are faced with new pressures like cyber bullying.
As a young girl, I went to an all girl private school, and it’s there that I developed some blocks around body image and confidence… you can read all about it in the book.
Let’s get back to you though.
Self-Acceptance
Accepting yourself is an integral part of your success and happiness. It’s why it’s the 4th step, the 4th pillar of my 5 step Make It Happen System.
It is said that once you learn to accept yourself for all that you are, you are in a good, positive mental state – you are high vibe, as I like to call it.
Accepting yourself is the first step towards self-love and confidence. When you let go of all the expectations to be a certain way, or feel a certain way, this inner peace falls over you, and suddenly you don’ t have to try so hard.
Having inner conflict with yourself can be the most exhausting thing, especially when you’re trying to lead a successful life and business. It’s another reason that self-acceptance comes happiness. You’re focused more on what you want than on what you don’t want, so you attract more of what you want in your life.
Accepting yourself also helps you to be more realistic and you see putting yourself first not as selfish, but as necessary to achieve the kind of success and happiness you want deep down. Over time your self-worth and self-respect means more which in turn invites people to value you and respect you as they should, and weed out those that don’t.
It’s about developing standards, knowing your values and what matters to you, and not letting anyone else stand in the way of your happiness.
5 tips to boost your confidence
These steps are outside of what Suzanne talked about, so be sure to have a listen, because she’s got some great techniques.
Confidence is something that I work at every day, depending on the situation. It’s a life skill that you need to develop if you’re going to make it happen in this lifetime.
So let’s start shall we?
1. Get a Shoebox
Say what? Ya, you read correctly: get a shoebox or something that you can cut a slit into big enough to slot in a note.
Whenever something good happens, like when you get a recommendation from someone, or when you passed an exam or certification, whatever it is that sparks that feeling of joy for you, write it down with a date, what happened and how it made you feel, and then put in the shoebox.
You can do this with a glass jar as well, but the idea is that at the end of the year, or when you’re feeling a bit blue, open the box and read about all the wonderful things that happened, all the amazing wins you’ve had. I dare you to feel worse!
We so easily tend to remember the bad before the good, so this is a way to remind us just how friggin’ amazing and special you are. The power of positive thinking!
2. Set a timer for 20 minutes
Ok, here’s what I want you to do….. set a timer, and get a pad of sticky notes.
When you start the timer, I want you to write down all the things you know, have accomplished, or have done that you are proud of, even how you help people and things you love doing.
One thing per sticky note, and if you have a white board, go ahead and stick ’em up there when you’re done. Then group them in a logical way that makes sense to you.
If you’re ever lost for what to say, refer back to this board, and just pick a sticky note at random.
I learnt this one through the amazing Helen Pritchard, who is not a LinkedIn Trainer, but shows you how to leverage that platform like no one I have ever met – Thanks Helen!
3. Get Curious and Reflect
When you are in a situation where you feel unsure, or like you’ve suddenly shrunk and feel 2 feet tall, don’t wish it away, but rather get curious and reflect.
What is it that you are unsure about? has this happened before? what is your ultimate goal, and how does this decision move you forward? Is what you’re feeling true?
Sometimes the act of asking ourselves questions helps to calm us down so that we can normalize internally and physically and mentally allow ourselves to think rationally versus emotionally.
You may also start to see patterns emerge – perhaps it’s a particular person or situation that arouses these negative thoughts and/or feelings. which leads me to my next tip
4. Get rid of toxicity in your life
Getting rid of toxins is a loaded statement. I say this because toxins exist in pretty much all of our life environments – career, finances, mindset, relationships, spirituality, purpose, and then there’s you, what you eat, put on your skin…
This is like a whole book, but let’s start small. So, go through each of the categories above and write down how you feel about each one on a scale of 1-10, 1 being crappy and 10 being super awesome. For any of the categories that you scored 7 or lower, write down 3 things that help to explain your rating.
Beside what you wrote, turn it into a positive – what people or things do you have to release to create more space for love and joy in your life? In other words, what can you do to get it to a 10.
The next part has to do with removing toxins from your mind and body, but I’ll leave that for another day.
5. Write a letter
If you have someone in your life that has caused you harm or that has helped you along your journey, write them a letter.
For those that hurt you, write them a letter of forgiveness. For those that have helped you, write them a letter of gratitude.
What this does, is that it allows you to tap into your subconscious and release feelings that you may not have had the chance to explore or release, which can build up inside us and cause blocks to form.
Even keeping good things inside can be harmful… I mean, what is causing you to hold good things inside?
It’s not bragging or boasting, it’s having pride in yourself and accomplishments. When someone says something nice to you, accept it, don’t shrug it off. Accept everything with love and kindness, and see what happens.
You can come back to these at any time, but just know that you are incredibly special, and that there is no one else in this world like you, so please come out from the shadows and show us how bright you are.
Until next time!
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